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New oral drug shrinks IMT sarcoma driven by abnormally activated protein

A new oral drug caused dramatic shrinkage of a patient's rare, aggressive form of soft-tissue cancer that was driven by an abnormally activated protein, physician-scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report in the Oct. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

28 Oct 2010

More effective therapeutic exercises underutilized in treatment of chronic neck pain

Duke University and University of North Carolina (UNC) researchers report in the November issue of Arthritis Care & Research that narcotics and diagnostic testing are overused in treating chronic neck pain. Their findings indicate clinicians may overlook more effective treatments for neck pain, such as therapeutic exercise. According to reviews cited in the study, evidence to support the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise in treating chronic neck pain is good, yet only 53% of subjects were prescribed such exercise.

28 Oct 2010

Sec. of State Clinton commits $44M toward new initiatives to empower women

Marking the 10th anniversary of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 the first to recognize the importance of women's 'full involvement' in efforts to maintain and promote peace and security Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday together with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and diplomats called for increased action to end sexual violence in war and increase women's involvement in peace-building efforts, the Associated Press/Forbes reports.

28 Oct 2010

New findings suggest way to treat lung diseases

A new study of an exotic, infectious virus that has caused three recent outbreaks in the United States reveals clues to how the virus might damage lungs during infection. The findings also suggest possible new ways to treat lung diseases in humans.

28 Oct 2010

CutisPharma receives U.S patent for suppository compounding

CutisPharma, Inc. today announced that it has received approval from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent (US 7,815,929) regarding a method for the preparation, storage and dispensing of compounded suppositories.

28 Oct 2010

Mass. hospitals turn away mentally ill kids, Anthem braces for rate hearings, other state news

The Boston Globe reports that children with mental illnesses are "increasingly being turned away from some Massachusetts hospitals' psychiatric wards, a problem the hospital industry acknowledges and blames on insufficient insurance payments to cover treatment of such sick children. … Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state's health and human services secretary, said yesterday that hospitals licensed to treat mentally ill children must provide that care if they have sufficient staffing and beds, regardless of the reimbursement rates" (Lazar, 10/27).

28 Oct 2010

Intuit Health patient portal solutions selected by AMS for physician practices

American Medical Software (AMS) has selected Intuit Inc's Intuit Health to provide its physician practices with a patient portal solution. Through this agreement, millions of patients of AMS clients will now be able to easily communicate with their provider and complete key tasks online.

28 Oct 2010

Omnyx initiates research testing of digital pathology platform

GE Healthcare and UPMC announced today that their imaging joint venture, Omnyx, is initiating clinical research testing of a breakthrough digital pathology platform that is expected to help transform the 125-year-old practice of pathologists using glass slides.

28 Oct 2010

BDSI to initiate BEMA Buprenorphine Phase 3 program following positive End-of-Phase 2 meeting with FDA

BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. today announced a positive End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which took place on September 14, 2010. At that meeting, agreement was reached on the BEMA Buprenorphine development plan for the treatment of chronic pain.

28 Oct 2010

Reuters examines development progress of microbicide gel to prevent HIV

Reuters reports that the developers of a vaginal microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir, which has been found to reduce "HIV infections in women by 39 percent," said the FDA last week granted fast-track approval designation to the gel.

28 Oct 2010

Study finds green tea does not protect breast cancer

Green tea does not protect against breast cancer. A study of data from approximately 54,000 women, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research, found no association between drinking green tea and breast cancer risk.

28 Oct 2010

Republican's controversial proposal to mend Medicare

In a Kaiser Health News companion piece to the story, Some Hill Races Could Hinge On Seniors' Anger Over Medicare, Marilyn Werber Serafini reports that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's ideas - including giving Medicare beneficiaries a voucher to buy health coverage and adjusting benefits based on income -- could gain ground if the GOP wins control of the House in November (Serafini, 10/26).

28 Oct 2010

TU/e researchers mimic process of bone formation in laboratory

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have for the first time succeeded in mimicking the process of bone formation in the laboratory, and in visualizing the process in great detail. The results will be published in the December edition of the scientific journal Nature Materials.

28 Oct 2010

Horizon to distribute Hitachi MRI and CT Product Lines in Canada

Hitachi Medical Systems America (HMSA) is pleased to announce that they have signed an agreement with Horizon Medical Services Ltd., in Mississauga, Ontario to be their exclusive MRI and CT sales and service representative in Canada.

28 Oct 2010

Ford pays down debt, including to worker's health trust

Ford is paying off debt by the billions $2 billion in the third quarter and as much as $3.6 billion by Friday. Ford is about to pay off its debt to the United Auto Workers health care trust.

28 Oct 2010

University of Manchester receives Wellcome Trust grant for five-year study

A team investigating how genes respond to hormonal changes and inflammation has been awarded a Wellcome Trust grant of 1.24 million for a five-year study

From The University of Manchester 28 Oct 2010

Prolonged use of glucosamine linked to greater risk of developing diabetes

High doses or prolonged use of glucosamine causes the death of pancreatic cells and could increase the risk of developing diabetes, according to a team of researchers at Universit- Laval's Faculty of Pharmacy. Details of this discovery were recently published on the website of the Journal of Endocrinology.

28 Oct 2010

Gov. candidates in Florida, Minnesota offer few details on health care

News outlets report that gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Minnesota are offering little details about their plans for health spending.

28 Oct 2010

New computational techniques to overcome obstacles in hard-to-study genes

Scientists have invented methods to scout the human genome's repetitive landscapes, where DNA sequences are highly identical and heavily duplicated. These advances, as reported today in Science, can identify subtle but important differences among people in the number and content of repeated DNA segments.

28 Oct 2010

Unidym, NanoIntegris enter distribution agreement for HiPco carbon nanotube products

Unidym a majority owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research announced today that it entered into a partnership with NanoIntegris, Inc., an Illinois-based supplier of carbon nanotubes. Effective October 27, 2010, NanoIntegris will distribute HiPco carbon nanotube products. HiPco nanotubes are valued by customers due to their small diameter range, ease of optical imaging, ease of chemical functionalization, compatibility with high frequency fiber optics research, and good batch to batch consistency.

28 Oct 2010